Why Americans Started Eating Healthier, Despite What You Hear

There are plenty of stories of unhealthy foods making us fatter and sicker. Yet as cultural anthropologist Grant McCracken points out, on the whole over the past fifty years our foods have been getting healthier and healthier. As he writes:

"In around 50 years, our culture changed one fundamental piece of how it defined the world. Food and eating. Fitness, bodies, clothing followed suit. Sugar, salt and fat continue to fight a rearguard action in the national economy and most of our diets. But the jig is up. The word is out. We are moving on. There is much more to say here. Chiefly the HTH (how the hell) did this happen? How do our culture transform itself?"

The reasons are many, but his bottom line conclusion is a hopeful one: "There is no part of a culture that cannot be reformed, perhaps even transformed."